Police Academy Graduation

Sunday, September 20, 1942

This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.

The Very Reverend Joseph McCaffrey, Catholic chaplain of the NYPD give the invocation, followed by the singing of the Lord's Prayer. Next, Reverend John H. Johnson, Episcopal chaplain for the NYPD presents a wartime prayer. The patrolmen are sworn in, and congratulated on the completion of their 6 month training program. He goes on to give a speech regarding the duties of the officers.

Mayor La Guardia then addresses the graduates. He reminds them that despite finishing school, they do not know everything just yet. La Guardia speaks of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He notes his order that all Americans of Japanese origin to go to their homes and stay there. He reminds the men that the city must constantly stay prepared for attack. La Guardia tells the men that they are always on duty - they must be ready to respond and minute of the day or night. He charges the men to keep clean lives, and stay fit. There is no room in the police department for a rummy or a gambler.

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Programs ranging from the 1930s to the 1970s covering a variety of cultural and political topics.

From archival broadcasts of sewer plant openings to single surviving episodes of long-defunct series, "Miscellaneous" is a catch-all for the odds and ends transferred as part of the New York Public Radio Archives Department's massive NEH-funded digitization project, launched in 2010.

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